Eduardo Mata (5 September 19425 January 1995) was a Mexican

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

and composer.

Career

Mata was born in Mexico City. He studied

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

privately for three years before enrolling in the National Conservatory of Music. From 1960 to 1963 he studied composition under Carlos Chávez, and Julián Orbón. In 1964 he received a Koussevitzky Memorial Fellowship to study at

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the ...

. There, he studied conducting with Max Rudolf and

Erich Leinsdorf Erich Leinsdorf (born Erich Landauer; February 4, 1912 – September 11, 1993) was an Austrian-born American conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a ...

and composition with Gunther Schuller. He composed several works in the 1950s and 1960s, including three symphonies and chamber works, which include

sonatas Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...

for piano and for cello and piano. His Third Symphony and some of his chamber works have been recorded. In 1965 he was appointed head of the Music Department of the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigge ...

(UNAM) and conductor of the Guadalajara Orchestra; He also conducted the orchestra at the university, which later became the National Autonomous University of Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1972, he left Mexico to take the position of principal conductor of the Phoenix Symphony. The next year he was appointed the Phoenix ensemble's music director, holding that position through the 1977–78 season. In 1965, he was one of the founding members and later, honorary president of the Mahler Mexico Society (Sociedad Mahler México) and together with Mexico's

National Symphony Orchestra The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1930, its principal performing venue is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. It also performs for the annual National Me ...

(Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional), in October 1975 he conducted the first full cycle of Gustav Mahler's symphonies in Mexico. From 1977 to 1993 he was music director of the

Dallas Symphony Orchestra The Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Dallas, Texas. Its principal performing venue is the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in the Arts District of downtown Dallas. History The orchestra traces its origins t ...

and guest conductor of several orchestras in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. He recorded over fifty albums, most of them with the UNAM Symphony Orchestra, the

, and the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

. He was also appointed principal conductor of the

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, per the New Zealand Sympho ...

and was about to take up this post in January 1995 when he was killed. On the morning of 4 January 1995, Mata and a passenger were en route from

Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D. The na ...

, Morelos, to Dallas, Texas. Mata was piloting his own

Piper Aerostar The Piper Aerostar (formerly Ted Smith Aerostar) is an American twin-engined propeller-driven executive or light transport aircraft, designed by Ted R. Smith. It was originally built by Ted Smith Aircraft Company, which after 1978 became part of ...

. One engine failed shortly after takeoff, and the plane crashed during an emergency landing attempt. Both died in the crash, near Mexico City.

Selected compositions

* Trio, for clarinet, drum, and cello, dedicated to

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

(1957) * Sonata, for piano (1960) * ''Improvisaciones'', for clarinet and piano (1961) * Symphony No. 1 (1962) * "Débora", ballet suite (1963) * ''Los huesos secos'' (The Dry Bones), ballet (1963) * Symphony No. 2 (1963) * ''Aires'' (1964) * ''Improvisación número 1'', for string quartet and piano four-hands (1964) * ''Improvisación número 2'', for strings and two pianos (1965) * ''Improvisación número 3'', for violin and piano (1965) * Sonata, for cello (1966), dedicated to Adolfo Odnoposoff * Symphony No. 3, for winds and horn (1966)

Selected discography

Mata compositions * Symphony No. 3, for wind orchestra and solo horn. Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM,

RCA Red Seal RCA Red Seal is a classical music label whose origin dates to 1902 and is currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment. History The first "Gramophone Record Red Seal" discs were issued in 1901.RCA Red Seal RCA Red Seal is a classical music label whose origin dates to 1902 and is currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment. History The first "Gramophone Record Red Seal" discs were issued in 1901.970

References

Sources * * * * * * * * * * *

. . . * Anon. 1993b. "Eduardo Mata". ''Who's Who in the South and Southwest,'' 23rd edition (1993–94). New Providence, New Jersey: Marquis Who's Who. . * Anon. 1996. "Eduardo Mata". ''Who Was Who in America: A Companion Biographical Reference Work to Who's who in America'' 11 (1993–1996). Chicago:

. . * Anon. 1998. ''Latin American Lives: Selected Biographies from the Five-Volume Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture''. Macmillan Compendium. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA. . . * Anon. 2001. "Mata". ''

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'' is a major reference work in the field of music, originally compiled by Theodore Baker, PhD, and published in 1900 by G. Schirmer, Inc. The ninth edition, the most recent edition, was published in ...

'', 9th edition, edited by Laura Diane Kuhn, 6 vols. London: Macmillan; New York: G. Schirmer. . * Cornell, Charles R., and Rene J. Montalvo (eds.). 2002. '' Biography Index,'' 27 (September 2001 – August 2002). New York: H. W. Wilson Company. . * Ficher, Miguel, Martha Furman Schleifer, and John M. Furman (eds.). 2002. ''Latin American Classical Composers,'' second edition. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. . * Gaster, Adrian (ed.) 1990. '' International Who's Who in Music and Musicians' Directory'', 12th edition. Cambridge, UK: International Who's Who in Music. . * Marquis, Albert Nelson, and Marquis Who's Who, Inc. 1993. "Eduardo Mata". ''

Who's Who in America Marquis Who's Who ( or ) is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in America'', ''Who's Who of American Wome ...

'', 48th edition (1994), 3 vols. New Providence, New Jersey: Marquis Who's Who. . * Slonimsky, Nicolas (ed.). 1997. ''Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Classical Musicians''. New York: G. Schirmer. . * Stevenson, Joseph. 2005a. "Dallas Symphony Orchestra". ''All Music Guide to Classical Music'', edited by Chris Woodstra, Gerald Brennan, and Allen Schrott, 339–340. San Francisco:

Backbeat Books In music and music theory, the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse (music), pulse (regularly repeating event), of the ''mensural level'' (or ''beat level''). The beat is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap their toes to when li ...

. . . * Unterburger, Amy L., and Jane L. Delgado (eds.). 1994. ''Who's Who among Hispanic Americans'', third edition (1994–95), foreword by Ricardo R. Fernández. Detroit:

Gale Research Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Gro ...

. . * Vinton, John (ed.). 1974. ''Dictionary of Contemporary Music''. New York: E. P. Dutton. . : {{DEFAULTSORT:Mata, Eduardo 1942 births 1995 deaths Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Classical musicians from Texas Male conductors (music) Members of El Colegio Nacional (Mexico) Mexican composers Mexican male composers Mexican conductors (music) Musicians from Dallas People from Mexico City 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Mexico Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1995

Career

Selected compositions

Selected discography

References

Further reading